THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK (First edition - first impression, in complete dustwrapper)

Doris Lessing

Published by Michael Joseph, London, 1962

About this Item

First impression of the true first edition. Dustwrapper design by William Belcher. ***Near fine in black boards with gilt titles to the spine. The gilt is still beautifully bright having been protected by the dustwrapper. The boards are clean and unmarked, with just a very small crease to the bottom edge of the spine, otherwise no bumps or creases. Corners sharp. Page block edges clean. No reading lean. Spine tight. Internally also near fine, with a neat ownership name in ink at the top of the front free endpaper. None of the usual off-setting to the endpapers. No foxing. Pages clean. No creases or tears. ***In a very good colour printed dustwrapper, which has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of 30s net. Unusually, the fragile dustwrapper is complete, with no loss. There are some small closed tears but no chips and hardly any creasing. Also, there is hardly any fading to the spine, which is also unusual (please see scans). Dustwrapper bright. ***568 pages. 225mm x 145mm. ***Synopsis - Anna Wulf is a writer who keeps four notebooks, each a different color, each reflecting a different part of her. The black one contains recollections of her youthful wartime years in West Africa. In the red one she reflects on her later life in London's leftist and intellectual circles. The blue notebook analyzes her fraught relations with men. The yellow notebook contains her fragmentary attempts at new fiction. With the fifth, the golden notebook, Wulf struggles to tie all the threads fearlessly back together again. All the currents of her time flow through Anna Marx and Freud and the burgeoning dissatisfactions among women that would eventually explode into feminism. Lessing's earnestness can be too much at times, but as a portrait of a woman coming to grips with the realities of her time her book is indispensable.' (Time 100) ***A scarce first impression of the first edition of Doris Lessing's most famous novel. The dustwrapper is extremely thin and fragile, and very few copies have survived in a complete dustwrapper. Very uncommon thus. A collector's copy of Doris Lessing's finest work. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 8695

Bibliographic Details

Title: THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK (First edition - first ...

Publisher: Michael Joseph, London

Publication Date: 1962

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: William Belcher (Dustwrapper design)

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Edition: First Edition